What turned out to be a great Christmas present quickly turned into coal tonight!

At least we held them to only 106 pts and a 29 pt deficit.

Just some observations and comments.

1) What is Jason Terry giving the Celtics......until now spotty offense and no defense.2) As they noted towards the end of the TNT broadcast....the Celtics are a small team. They need a big guy that can patrol the paint and clear the boards. They mentioned Cousins and Grotat as possible fits. They thought Cousins could grow under Doc & KG guidance. We play the Kings on Sunday....be interesting if Ainge starts the talks.3) The Celtics are last (30th) in the league in total rebounding....you don't win many games with that stat and you do not get many second chance attempts either that can mean the difference in close games.4) Where is the defense......too many break downs and poor defensive rotations.5) Love Sully....all he needs to do now is get an NBA body.....loose 15-20lbs and pump some iron. He is a tough SOB and I love how he challenged Griffin.6) Cortney Lee is a good fit for the Celtics...athletic ......plays good defense and his scoring is picking up.7) Bradley will help the defense and should bring some energy to the team. He is due to start next Wednesday. But he is not the end of all...and not the total solution. We can use another shooter at 2 guard.9) Ainge better get his butt in gear and start reassessing this team ......we are treading water and it all begins with a weak center/power forward position. KG is doing an unbelievable job at center but he has no one at power forward to pick up the defensive lapses. He is best at PF where he can roam and cause mayhem. Danny get a center please!10) While I am at it...why not get some toughness and sign Kenyon Martin.........

Just Tired of getting our heads bashed-in like what happened tonight!

NEXT GAME - SATURDAY - 10:30PM - AT GOLDEN STATE - CSNE/NBA CHANNEL

POST GAME RECAP

CSNE

A Sherrod Blakely

Clippers crush Celtics, 106-77

Doc's resolution: 'I want my team to be better'With the new year approaching, Doc Rivers has plans for his team

Rivers added, "When you think about that team, when you have a team where five or six guys can play poorly and you can still win by a lot of points, that means you are really deep. That's what they have."

And that's what they proved in emphatic fashion on Thursday, blowing out the C's 106-77 on to extend their winning streak to a franchise-best 15 in a row.

The high hopes that Boston (14-14) had for an upset seemed to be wiped out in a matter of minutes as the Clippers (23-6) opened the game with a blistering 16-4 run that set the blowout in motion.

But the Celtics battled back early on, even cutting the Clippers lead to 30-20 following a Kevin Garnett buzzer-beating jumper to end the first.

Boston's backups brought the C's even closer, 32-28, following a 3-pointer by Courtney Lee. But the Clippers ran off eight straight regain control of the game and from there, it was never really close again as the Clippers got contributions from an assortment of players.

Then again, that has been the Clippers way all season.

Teams that run off 15 straight wins have to do more than rely on one or two players in order to win.

The leading scorers for the Clippers on Thursday were Matt Barnes (21 points) and Jamal Crawford (17) who both come off the bench.

"They got a lot of good players," Rivers said.

When reminded that most teams have good players, Rivers replied, "Yeah, but most teams don't have 11 of them."

Indeed, the Clippers depth allowed the starters to bolt out to a double-digit lead that the second unit was able to maintain.

It was the kind of performance that fans were anticipating the Celtics and their deep-on-paper bench would deliver this season.

But that has not been the case.

Not even close.

It was for the most part an exercise in futility with the C's showing that whatever growth they have made in recent weeks, they still have a ways to go before they can compete with elite teams like the Clippers.

Elite team. Clippers. Same sentence.

Yeah, it sounds weird for sure.

But it is the reality of the NBA right now, just like the Celtics being a mediocre team is indeed the true state of where the C's are currently.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Rapid reaction after the Los Angeles Clippers throttled the Boston Celtics 106-77 on Thursday night at the Staples Center:

If you elected for sleep on Thursday night, you made the right decision. Coming off one of their finest efforts of the season on Christmas Day in Brooklyn, the Celtics were absolutely dominated by the Clippers. Matt Barnes scored a game-high 21 points over 23 minutes off the Los Angeles bench, while Jamal Crawford added 17 points off the pine. Blake Griffin registered 15 points and eight rebounds, while Caron Butler chipped in 14 points for a Clippers team that shot 48.2 percent from the field. Kevin Garnett scored a team-high 16 points, but even he was a minus-13 in plus/minus on this night. Paul Pierce registered 12 points, but was a team-worst minus-27 overall. Rajon Rondo blended into the scenery with 10 points, six assists, five rebounds and four turnovers. Boston shot a mere 40.3 percent and turned the ball over 18 times (leading to 26 points).

TURNING POINT The Clippers embarked on a 16-2 run early in the first quarter, opening an 18-4 lead before the TNT broadcast had even switched over from Oklahoma City's overtime win against Dallas. Willie Green and DeAndre Jordan paired up for 10 points during the burst as the Clippers were 7-of-9 shooting (77.8 percent), while Boston missed six of seven shots. The Celtics got their deficit down to four with a little burst early in the second quarter, only for Los Angeles to respond with a lightning-quick 8-0 run over a 68-second span that pushed the lead back to double digits. Boston never got closer than eight the rest of the way.

SULLY GETS A FLAGRANT Celtics rookie Jared Sullinger got tagged with a flagrant-1 for essentially preventing himself from getting put on a Griffin poster in the third quarter. Griffin attacked on the baseline with 4:49 remaining in the third frame and, avoiding the wrong end of a "SportsCenter" highlight, Sullinger lunged at Griffin and fouled him hard around the neck to prevent a dunk.

WHAT IT MEANS Welp, the Celtics can take solace in the fact that just about half the league has tasted defeat at the hands of the Clippers over the past month (Los Angeles has won its last 15 games against 14 different teams since Nov. 28). On the other hand, Boston was coming off one of its finest efforts of the season and this was a chance to gauge itself against the best team in basketball. The Celtics failed that test, trailing by as much as 32. Boston must dust itself off before visiting Golden State on Saturday -- no easy place to play -- then closing out this four-game road trip on Sunday in Sacramento.

Doc is fond of saying "you are your record". Well, not too surprisingly, a mediocre team got blown out by the best team in basketball.

Not much to like last night, not much at all. Every single Celtic player had a negative +/-. That means no matter what combination/unit Doc put them on, no matter where in the game they were playing, they lost to the opposing Clipper unit. If you look at the starting unit, which plays a lot of minutes together as a unit, 4 of them have +/- in the negative mid-20s. Only Jason Collins, who played a lot fewer minutes, had a +/- that was "only" -11. That tells me that not only were our starters outplayed, they were outclassed.

1. Paul Pierce had a hard landing last night. It wasn't dropping for him. Barnes has always loved playing against Pierce. Barnes outplayed Pierce last night. A game high 21 points for Barnes, including 5-9 from 3. We are still not closing out on the 3pt shooters. This is not good given that is where the league is now, 3pt shooting. NYK, Miami, Clips, GSW (you'll see Saturday) are air forces the way they bomb away.

2. Rondo's floaters in the lane weren't dropping either. Funny, his outside shot was doing fine. Paul sliced him up on defense and did a credible job of stifling our fast break by getting on the ball. After one of his best games, Rondo played one of his worst.

3. The Clips ran. They ran on turnovers, of which we had 18, they took the ball out of the bottom of the net after made field goals and had the inbounds pass almost out to half court for a quick set. They had players down court at the rim while we still had players at mid-court. Our transition defense sucked last night. Our pick-and-roll defense sucked last night. Our defense, which was looking like it was back, got shredded last night. I understand and can accept good execution by them scoring points, they're not chopped liver, but we made it easy for them. They had 26 points off of our 18 turnovers. They also had 15 points on fast breaks.

4. Speaking of poor defense, how many years has Lamar Odom been in the league and we don't know better than to let him dribble upcourt AND that he's a lefty who heavily goes left and should be forced right?

5. Anybody who thinks that Blake Griffin is just a dunker and spinner in the low post should watch last night's game. He has developed every part of his game, except for free throws and 3pts, and is now a serious threat from mid-range in. He is not a one-trick pony anymore. Griffin is now the Protected Species list. Every time there was any kind of tangle at all with Griffin, the nearest Celtic got whistled.

6. I love the foul Sully laid on Griffin. Not because Griffin's a punk, in fact it looked like he was not ruffled at all by the hard foul, but because Sully just didn't want to give up a free basket. In today's wussified NBA Sully was called for a flagrant 1, but it was just a good hard foul. He didn't drop Griffin. He stopped the dunk and didn't follow through so Griffin was thrown to the floor. Good job, Sully. I wish a few other Celtics got fed up like that.

7. Even our garbage time players got destroyed. Was that Kris Joseph throwing up those awful bricks? There's something going on with Barbosa. He had those "personal/family" problems that kept him out last game or two, but he met the team in LA and had a DNP-Coaches Decision. Welcome to the NBA Jarvis Varnado. You now have your obligatory sloppy turnover, that's your limit. Jeez, we got beat in garbage time by Ryan Freaking Hollins. This is embarrassing.

8. Never understood what the big deal has been about DeAndre Jordan. He's Perk with a bigger contract and a worse attitude.

9. Their defense was outstanding, but we helped. Our spacing sucked. It's easier to swarm when you don't have far to come from. Our perimeter players weren't far away enough from the ball to make the Clippers think twice about cheating, nor were they far enough away that if they got the pass they had enough time to get an open shot before the defender got back.

This Clipper team looked really, really good. I don't know this Willie Green, but their other 4 starters are very solid and their bench is better than the Knicks'. Crawford, Barnes, Turiaf, Odom and Bledsoe? That's a better starting team than a lot of teams in this league. That's what we said about our bench when the season started, but these guys are actually playing like they deserve that.

As opposed to our bench...

I never thought I'd ever say this, but I gotta give credit to that miserable pissbucket of a human being Donald Sterling for hanging in there with Vinny Del Negro. He must be working for way below the market.

At the risk of sounding like a sore loser, I hate it when the cameras always show the winning team laughing and smiling and the losing team sitting there quietly and unhappy. What the hell do they expect? As Vince Lombardi said "show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser". Constantly showing happy winners vs unhappy losers is dwelling on the obvious. I suppose I can't blame them this time, there wasn't much to focus on in the game instead.

Strap yourselves in, we're in the beautiful bay area on Saturday. The GSW are not the same GSW just as the Clips aren't the same Clips. Klay Thompson is going to light us up if JET doesn't stay on his hand and JET better run his ass off too. David Lee will give KG fits as he bombs away outside and then sneaks in for flip shots in the paint. Pierce and Green should eat Barnes and Green up. "Uncle" Festus Ezeli will surprise you. He was the #30, last pick, in the first round. Jarrett Jack will be a pain since we don't have great speed in the back court when Rondo sits (unless Barbosa plays, a development I will be watching closely). The tempo will be "up".

bobheckler wrote:Doc is fond of saying "you are your record". Well, not too surprisingly, a mediocre team got blown out by the best team in basketball.

Not much to like last night, not much at all. Every single Celtic player had a negative +/-. That means no matter what combination/unit Doc put them on, no matter where in the game they were playing, they lost to the opposing Clipper unit. If you look at the starting unit, which plays a lot of minutes together as a unit, 4 of them have +/- in the negative mid-20s. Only Jason Collins, who played a lot fewer minutes, had a +/- that was "only" -11. That tells me that not only were our starters outplayed, they were outclassed.

1. Paul Pierce had a hard landing last night. It wasn't dropping for him. Barnes has always loved playing against Pierce. Barnes outplayed Pierce last night. A game high 21 points for Barnes, including 5-9 from 3. We are still not closing out on the 3pt shooters. This is not good given that is where the league is now, 3pt shooting. NYK, Miami, Clips, GSW (you'll see Saturday) are air forces the way they bomb away. Barnes outplayed a lot of our guys last nite

2. Rondo's floaters in the lane weren't dropping either. Funny, his outside shot was doing fine. Paul sliced him up on defense and did a credible job of stifling our fast break by getting on the ball. After one of his best games, Rondo played one of his worst.

3. The Clips ran. They ran on turnovers, of which we had 18, they took the ball out of the bottom of the net after made field goals and had the inbounds pass almost out to half court for a quick set. They had players down court at the rim while we still had players at mid-court. Our transition defense sucked last night. Our pick-and-roll defense sucked last night. Our defense, which was looking like it was back, got shredded last night. I understand and can accept good execution by them scoring points, they're not chopped liver, but we made it easy for them. They had 26 points off of our 18 turnovers. They also had 15 points on fast breaks. You actually make it sound better than it was.

4. Speaking of poor defense, how many years has Lamar Odom been in the league and we don't know better than to let him dribble upcourt AND that he's a lefty who heavily goes left and should be forced right? I think this was Odoms best game of the year. Go figure

5. Anybody who thinks that Blake Griffin is just a dunker and spinner in the low post should watch last night's game. He has developed every part of his game, except for free throws and 3pts, and is now a serious threat from mid-range in. He is not a one-trick pony anymore. Griffin is now the Protected Species list. Every time there was any kind of tangle at all with Griffin, the nearest Celtic got whistled. 100% correct on this

6. I love the foul Sully laid on Griffin. Not because Griffin's a punk, in fact it looked like he was not ruffled at all by the hard foul, but because Sully just didn't want to give up a free basket. In today's wussified NBA Sully was called for a flagrant 1, but it was just a good hard foul. He didn't drop Griffin. He stopped the dunk and didn't follow through so Griffin was thrown to the floor. Good job, Sully. I wish a few other Celtics got fed up like that. I agree totally. The only way we could play with these guys is turning it into a slugfest and make the officials start calling everything. This is one of the main reasons I am a Sully supporter. He is tough and smart.

7. Even our garbage time players got destroyed. Was that Kris Joseph throwing up those awful bricks? There's something going on with Barbosa. He had those "personal/family" problems that kept him out last game or two, but he met the team in LA and had a DNP-Coaches Decision. Welcome to the NBA Jarvis Varnado. You now have your obligatory sloppy turnover, that's your limit. Jeez, we got beat in garbage time by Ryan Freaking Hollins. This is embarrassing.

8. Never understood what the big deal has been about DeAndre Jordan. He's Perk with a bigger contract and a worse attitude. He is a lot more athletic, I think he is also bigger

9. Their defense was outstanding, but we helped. Our spacing sucked. It's easier to swarm when you don't have far to come from. Our perimeter players weren't far away enough from the ball to make the Clippers think twice about cheating, nor were they far enough away that if they got the pass they had enough time to get an open shot before the defender got back. Ongoing problem that Doc needs to fix.

This Clipper team looked really, really good. I don't know this Willie Green, but their other 4 starters are very solid and their bench is better than the Knicks'. Crawford, Barnes, Turiaf, Odom and Bledsoe? That's a better starting team than a lot of teams in this league. That's what we said about our bench when the season started, but these guys are actually playing like they deserve that. I don't agree with all of this. Look at the players. To me they are just a by product of a very good team. They know their roles. They are playing with very good players and it is rubbing off. Of course a lot of middle of the road players excel against us. Crawford is a offensive player, a wild offensive player. When he has it going there is none better. Barnes is a defensive player that can hit open shots when they are there. Wonder what the Lakers were thinking of.

As opposed to our bench... Hmmmm

I never thought I'd ever say this, but I gotta give credit to that miserable pissbucket of a human being Donald Sterling for hanging in there with Vinny Del Negro. He must be working for way below the market. I bet he is. Vinny does have his players playing the right way

At the risk of sounding like a sore loser, I hate it when the cameras always show the winning team laughing and smiling and the losing team sitting there quietly and unhappy. What the hell do they expect? As Vince Lombardi said "show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser". Constantly showing happy winners vs unhappy losers is dwelling on the obvious. I suppose I can't blame them this time, there wasn't much to focus on in the game instead. I was thinking the same thing. When things are going good you get players like Jordan, laughing when they get a foul called on them, most of the time it is a obvious foul, but for some reason, all of a sudden they think they are superstar material. Reminded me of the way Melo of the Knicks is all smiles now and acts like he has been a winner his entire life.

Strap yourselves in, we're in the beautiful bay area on Saturday. The GSW are not the same GSW just as the Clips aren't the same Clips. Klay Thompson is going to light us up if JET doesn't stay on his hand and JET better run his ass off too. David Lee will give KG fits as he bombs away outside and then sneaks in for flip shots in the paint. Pierce and Green should eat Barnes and Green up. "Uncle" Festus Ezeli will surprise you. He was the #30, last pick, in the first round. Jarrett Jack will be a pain since we don't have great speed in the back court when Rondo sits (unless Barbosa plays, a development I will be watching closely). The tempo will be "up". Hope we turn it around and win this game. We take this one and the next game (which we should win) and we go 3-1 on this trip. I would have took that in a heartbeat before this trip started. Losing by 30 or by 1 makes not difference. All will be forgotten with 2 wins in a row.

I had the luxury of being spared the agony of watching another UGLY game.

I fell asleep...woke up and aksed the wife why the game was not on. Her reply " They're getting their butts whuped. At which point I fell sound asleep.

I looked at the stats the next day just to see what may have contributed to this embarassing loss and I see that Boston took something like 72 shots while the Clips put up 85 shots. Perhaps the 18 turnovers had something to do with that as well as the lack of rebounding.